<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Alone by MackDreamer</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22996975">Alone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MackDreamer/pseuds/MackDreamer'>MackDreamer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banishment, Character background theory, Experimental, I might use this in a later fanfic though!, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/hinted past teenage pregnancy, OC's name is Darcy, One Shot, Pope is mentioned, Red Theory, Takes place six years before Dawn, You may recognize the OC from Whumptober 2019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:02:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22996975</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MackDreamer/pseuds/MackDreamer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Red's hatred for Caesar wasn't caused by Koba's death...It was rooted in his childhood.</p><p>Rated Teens and Up because the topics in this story are rough (was originally M but decided it didn't fit).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Note: This is a one-shot I (randomly) decided to write and it’s based on my theory on Red’s background-(speaking of <b>warnings</b>) that means the one-shot contains implied/mentioned only/hinted child abuse and implied/hinted teenage pregnancy (which occures before this story takes place). If either of these subjects disturb you, don’t read! </p><p>This one-shot was also to explore and see how Caesar and the apes would have handled and/or reacted to child abuse occuring within their colony and what they’d do if a teenage ape got pregnant.</p><p>The only OC that appears in this one-shot is Darcy (she was also mentioned in one of my Whumptober one-shots).</p><p>Enjoy!</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>
  <em>November, 2020. Six years before Dawn.</em>
</p><p>The cold air and soft patter of rain told Caesar he was awake but he felt as though he were dreaming.</p><p>Angry hoots and screeches came from every corner of the Ape Village as more apes appeared. Either to see what was going on or to get to the source of their rage. The only thing that stopped them were the gorillas who formed a wall around that particular ape.</p><p><em>What’s going on here?</em> Caesar wondered as he watched on from his tree home.</p><p>He realized with surprise that the loudest and most violent of the apes were all females. Some throwing pebbles and stones in the protected ape’s direction and others trying to push their way past the gorillas and grabbing at the ape-only to get pushed away by the gorilla and held back by Rocket or Koba. Most of the colony were showing their teeth in threatened grins. They were angry but some also looked scared from the chaos itself.</p><p>He watched a second longer, mesmerized by the mob the apes had formed, before bellowing: <b>“NO!”</b></p><p>In a flash, the village was went quiet. All shrieks silenced as the apes paused to look up at their king.</p><p>Caesar made his way down toward them. His mind buzzed as he eyed each of his apes. The anger, the confusion their eyes portrayed. They way some of them held on to rocks or spears or arrow pieces. What could have caused all this?</p><p><em>“We woke up to shrieking.”</em> Rocket signed when Caesar approached him and Koba. One of the gorillas guarding the ape was Luca. <em>“When we came, they were beating her.”</em></p><p><em>Her?</em> Caesar’s eyes narrowed.</p><p>“Who?” He whispered.</p><p>Luca huffed and signed something to the gorilla next to him who made room for their leader to look.</p><p>At first, Caesar didn’t recognize the ape. All he saw was a gorilla covered in blood. But the more he stared at her, the more he realized who she was.</p><p>Darcy.</p><p>She refused to meet his gaze, but Caesar could see the bite marks. The blood running down from various injuries the mob gave her. Old and fresh marks on her lips, some spots of fur missing on her body.</p><p>Caesar frowned at what he saw. Darcy, and her son Red, came from the San Fransisco Zoo, much like most of the colony did. She wasn’t exactly an adult but not exactly a teenager anymore either. Despite how young she was, she looked much older. Tired and worn out, like a dying fish.</p><p>Wordlessly, he backed away and returned his gaze to his three honorary brothers. <em>“Why was she attacked?”</em> Then a new realization came to his mind. <em>“Where’s Red?”</em></p><p>Rocket and Koba glanced at each other, clearly troubled by something, before Koba turned back to Caesar. The look on his face concerned him. <em>“The females told me they saw her..Hurting…Red.”</em></p><p><em>“Hurting him?”</em> He asked, eyebrows raised.</p><p>Koba hesitated. <em>“Like…Hitting him…Like what humans do…To Koba…To some apes.”</em></p><p>A pit formed in Caesar’s throat. He couldn’t speak, no words could form in either his mouth or his hands. Though he had never experienced abuse himself, he knew what it was. What he sawin the shelter, what happened to Koba and other lab apes…But this?…No…His mind refused to accept what he was hearing.</p><p>Mothers…Don’t hurt…Their children.</p><p>A series of loud hoots snapped him out of his shock. Stone appeared and rushed over towards the four apes. <em>“Maurice found Red!”</em> He signed quickly. <em>“He’s bleeding!”</em></p><p>Without a word, Caesar, Rocket and Koba followed Stone away. Luca stayed behind with the Guard to fend off the colony-though the mob had settled down now that their king was involved. Stone lead them out of the village, toward the Gorilla Guardians usual guarding spot.</p><p>They spotted Maurice immediately, crouching on the muddy ground next to some branches and bushes-one of the hiding spots for the Guards. He lifted his head as they approached him. <em>“Head wound.” </em>He signed to them. <em>“Not deep.”</em></p><p>Caesar barely acknowledged his signs. As he crouched down next to Maurice, his mind still wouldn’t accept what was happening nor did he want to accept it. Apes were better than this and female apes would never let anyone harm their child let alone…</p><p>The four year old gorilla looked back at him. His wide, green eyes darting from Caesar to Koba and Rocket. It was hard to tell if he was shaking from terror or from the cold, his fur was soaked with rain water, despite his hiding place.</p><p>Blood ran from the right side of his head…Where a gash, the size of a gorillas thumb, was. It looked like a flesh wound but it was horrible.</p><p>The more Caesar looked at him, the more bruises he saw. Bruises on his face, his ears. Blackened eyes. The soft outline of ribs under the young gorilla’s skin. Dirty fur that needed grooming. Dried blood on his nose.</p><p>Neglect.</p><p>Blood boiling, a rage building in his chest, Caesar slowly lifted his head back up. <em>“How could this have happened?!” </em>He signed furiously as Rocket reemerged.</p><p>The two apes couldn’t answer him. In fact, there was no easy answer. None of the four had ever seen or heard of this before. Until today, they thought abuse and neglect was unique only to humans. The very same species that put them in cages and tortured them in labs. That apes weren’t capable of this.</p><p><em>“She was so young when she had him.” </em>Maurice finally signed. <em>“Only a teenager and he was sick often-“</em></p><p><em>“Why did Darcy have a child at that age anyway?!” </em>Caesar was suddenly all too aware as to why Luca and the Guard was guarding her. If it wasn’t for them, that mob would have killed her. Law or no law.</p><p><em>“Don’t think she wanted to.”</em> Offered Rocket. <em>“Maybe humans make her. Apes had no rights in cages.”</em></p><p>Caesar had to take a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh. That was probably the case. Didn’t humans force Maurice to perform in a circus? And how many experiments was Koba subjected to whilst in the labs? If the orangutan and scarred bonobo didn’t have a say in the matter, Darcy likely didn’t either.</p><p>But that did not excuse or justify what she did to her son.</p><p>There was an uncomfortable silence before Stone hesitantly asked the question Caesar was currently contemplating. <em>“What we do with Darcy?”</em></p><p>“Kill her.” Koba harshly whispered, quiet enough for Red not to hear but loud enough for Caesar, Rocket, Maurice and Stone to hear and meet his angry gaze.</p><p>No, Koba was more than angry. He looked like he was about ready to join the very mob he had previously held back. <em>“She abused her child! Tortured him! Starved him! She betrayed him as a mother!”</em> He met Caesar’s eyes, trying to get his point across. <em>“She has to pay for that!”</em></p><p>Despite himself, part of Caesar agreed with Koba. Part of him wanted to see Darcy suffer and die for all the pain she caused Red. She wasn’t ape, as far as he was concerned. But something held him back from saying so, and instead of commenting on Koba’s words, he signed it:</p><p>
  <em>“Ape Not Kill Ape, Koba.”</em>
</p><p>Koba did not take that response well. <em>“Ape </em><b><em>ABUSED</em></b><em> Ape!” </em>He was so angry at that point that he was shaking. <em>“Darcy just like Pope!”</em></p><p>Pope. Caesar sighed.</p><p>Two years ago, Pope enslaved a colony of primitive apes in a zoo and planned on killing Caesar. Koba was previously friends with Pope as they were both lab apes but that didn’t stop Pope from wanting to kill the bonobo too. Ultimately, it was Koba that killed Pope and, while Caesar wasn’t there to see how Pope treated the primitive apes, Koba told him he was like humans.</p><p><em>That makes two.</em> Caesar realized in disappointment. <em>Two apes who act like humans.</em></p><p>Caesar decided right then what he was going to do.</p><p>~~~~~~</p><p>It took some coaxing to get Red to come out of his hiding place but Maurice managed to convince him to go back to the village with them. Koba, Stone, Rocket, Caesar and Maurice actually had to form a wall around him when they entered as apes began hooting again-first out of relief that they found him but then their hoots turned to shrieks upon seeing the extent of his injuries. It looked and sounded like they were getting ready to form another mob.</p><p>Maurice and Caesar guided Red to Cornelia, who was waiting for them by the royal tree home. Tinker stood next to her. Two two year old chimps, one Ash and the other Blue Eyes, watched from behind her back. Curious about what was happening but clearly not understanding the seriousness of it.</p><p><em>“We should have helped her.” </em>Signed Cornelia sadly. <em>“She wasn’t ready for the responsibility.”</em></p><p>Caesar frowned before thinking back to the early days of their freedom. Before the village was built and when humans still hunted them. Red was born only a few months before their liberation and was born premature. Taking care of him, and learning how to survive in the forest, and the constant threat of humans and unknown danger had to have been unimaginably stressful for Darcy, who barely even knew how to care for herself.</p><p><em>Could this have been prevented? </em>He wondered. If there were no humans or firestorm, could the apes have helped and supported Darcy a little more? Would she have accepted their help?</p><p>
  <em>Am I making the right choice?</em>
</p><p>Then he heard a squeak, prompting him and Cornelia to look down. Blue Eyes had moved out from behind Tinker and took a few steps towards Red. The two year old was staring at the slightly older gorilla, eyeing the bloody gash on his head. He looked concern but also intrigued by the wound.</p><p>Red averted his gaze from the young prince, slowly backing away till he was close to Maurice again. Despite the protection Maurice offered, he appeared tense. Like he was waiting for someone to grab him and dreading it.</p><p><em>We should have helped her.</em> That was what Cornelia had said. <em>No.</em> Thought Caesar. <em>We should have helped Red.</em></p><p>This abuse didn’t start over night. It was something that had been going on for years, probably the entire time the apes were free. Someone should have seen it, done something to stop it. Red should have been protected from this-no! This abuse should not have lasted for as long as it had been, it should have been stopped years ago!</p><p>That was when Caesar knew he was making the right choice. He wasn’t going to kill Darcy like Koba had wanted, but he will make sure she could never hurt Red again either.</p><p>Banishment.</p><p>Reassured in his decision, he left Maurice and Cornelia and approached the Gorilla Guardians. “Follow. Me.” He nodded at Darcy inside their makeshift wall. “Take her.”</p><p>What happened next could only be described as an explosion.</p><p>Darcy suddenly lunging out from the gorillas as they scrambled to grab her. Hoots and shrieks as other apes joined, her biting and scratching at the apes as she struggled against them. Caesar wasn’t sure what was happening until he heard Koba roar and practically leaped into the air to try to stop Darcy from bitting off some poor elder gorilla’s nose off. Then Caesar took action himself.</p><p>Darcy wasn’t going to be banished without a fight.</p><p>Cornelia and Tinker promptly grabbed their sons and rushed back up the tree home. Maurice scooped up the small gorilla and ran after the two female chimps, trying to keep Red from seeing what was happening-but Red had other ideas. He kicked and pounded at Maurice to let go, wiggling to try to loosen the older ape’s hold but Maurice was far stronger than the young ape was.</p><p>Maurice managed to hold on to Red until he entered the royal family’s home when Red had finally slipped out of his grasp and ran back outside. He froze at what he saw.</p><p>Apes shrieking, and pounding at their chests while others held them back, Luca and Koba sitting next to a gorilla bleeding from his face, many other gorillas wounded or bloody.</p><p>Then, he saw her.</p><p>His mother met his eyes for only a brief second, before Caesar, Rocket and a number of other apes charged at her and chased her out of the village. A series of shrieks and roars trailing after them.</p><p>It looked and felt like a nightmare. As if the ape colony had turned into monsters of some kind.</p><p>He wanted to go with them, run after his mother and be with her. Despite all the times she yelled at him and hit him, she was still his mother and he wanted her back-but he couldn’t move. Too scared to even cry out. Red felt himself get picked up by Maurice again but he let him this time. It was much easier to let an adult carry him away than it was to do anything else.</p><p>As soon as they were back inside the royal home, Red darted to the first corner he saw and stayed there. Not letting anyone touch him and not responding to any of the adults signs or hoots. He won’t even look at Blue Eyes or Ash, who were still staring at him as if he were some new bug they just discovered.</p><p>By the time Caesar had returned, it was nearly dawn. Red hesitated before looking at him, half expecting the Ape King to chase after him like he had done to his mother.</p><p>Cornelia looked at her husband. Then pulled him into a hug. His choice, although hard to make, was for Red’s safety and for the good of the colony but that didn’t make it any less easy…Nor did it feel good.</p><p>After a strong embrace, she pulled away with a sigh. <em>“Darcy?”</em> She asked.</p><p><em>“Gone.”</em> Replied Caesar, still frowning over Darcy’s sudden attack on the Guard.</p><p>When Caesar said <em>gone</em> he meant that he and Rocket, and the others had chased her away until they could no longer see her…But Red thought it meant something else-</p><p>Dead.</p><p>Red quickly turned his head away, shaking. He stared at the bark on the branch next to him, trying not to shed the tears building in his eyes but losing the battle. He just hoped no one would notice.</p><p>He was alone. Red didn’t know what would happen next, but he knew he was well and truly all alone now. His mother, although scary and unpredictable, was all he had and he always thought that if…If he had just kept quiet, if he just didn’t cry so much, if he just stayed out of her way, then maybe she’d like him…</p><p>Now he had no one…</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>